field, and only require to be placed in the trenches. In addition to this, the great liability of stone-drains to become obstructed in a few years, and the certainty that tile-drains will, practically, last forever, are conclusive arguments in favor of the use of the latter. If the land is stony, it must be cleared; this is a proposition by itself, but if the sole object is to make drains, the best material should be used, and this material is not stone. A well laid tile-drain has the following essential characteristics:—1. It has a free outlet for the discharge of all water which may run through it. 2. It has openings, at its joints, sufficient for the admission of all the water which may rise to the level of its floor. 3. Its floor is laid on a well regulated line of descent, so that its current may maintain a flow of uniform, or, at least, never decreasing rapidity, throughout its entire length. Land which requires draining, is that which, at some time during the year, (either from an accumulation of the rains which fall upon it, from the lateral flow, or soakage, from adjoining land, from springs which open within it, or from a combination of two or all of these sources,) becomes filled with water, that does not readily find a natural outlet, but remains until removed by evaporation. Every considerable addition to its water wells up, and soaks its very surface; and that which is added after it is already brim full, must flow off over the surface, or lie in puddles upon it. Evaporation is a slow process, and it becomes more and more slow as the level of the water recedes from the surface, and is sheltered, by the overlying earth, from the action of sun and wind. Therefore, at least during the periods of spring and fall preparation of the land, during the early growth of plants, and often even in midsummer, the _water-table_,—the top of the water of saturation,—is within a few inches of the surface, preventing the natural descent of roots, and, by reason of the small space to receive fresh rains, causing an interruption of work for some days after each storm.